16th to 18th December 2010
Two teenagers held a 48-hour computer game marathon to raise more than £1300 for the Tom Clabburn Memorial Fund. The pair, Luca Fruzza, 17, a friend of Tom’s, along with Rory Lehane, 17, who is in the same school year as Tom’s sister, Ellen, are both students at Tom’s old school, Drayton Manor High School in Hanwell, West London.
They completed all four games of the Zelda franchise and were live on a web-stream throughout to ensure they complied with the rules of the event.
Luca told the Ealing Gazette newspaper: “I was Tom’s friend and as it was recently his 18th birthday I thought it would be a great idea to do something for him, especially as I hadn’t taken part in any of the sponsored walks. I chose the computer game because it was around when Tom died and I played it for three days to take my mind off things. Also it’s something I can do well. It’s notoriously quite a long game; the average play time is probably 100 hours. It takes a lot of concentration.”
Tom’s dad, Paul, said: “Our family hugely appreciated the effort made by Luca and Rory. They also organised everything themselves, including web-cams, publicity and a support team. They didn’t get much sleep but they stuck at it!”
Donations in support of Luca and Rory’s efforts can still be made at http://www.justgiving.com/Luca-Fruzza
